Abstract

Australia's 11th Nobel laureate, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn was awarded the 2009 Noble Prize for microbiological discoveries and studies on telomeres and telomerase enzyme. Her current work base is at the University of San Francisco, California who I tried to get an interview and found out after several attempts that her schedule was totally booked at least for 2015.

In 2011, I was looking through the Noble Prize lists and stumbled upon her recent work on telomeres. Immediately, I saw a possible correlation with the functionality of telomeres and the characteristicnature of Buddhistkamma. I asked the question, ‘Is Kamma similar in Nature to the recent studies on Telomere Functionality?’ Since then, I have made some telomere correlations with Buddhistkamma that was on my mind. What I began to see was similarities that we, the Buddhist community in general, see in the Law of Kamma. Recent observations like Dr Therese Dale (who I had the pleasure of meeting, also very busy) and others also confirmed the findings that Professor Elizabeth Blackburn had uncovered.

Background Notes On Telomeres

A Broad History of Events [1]
A telomere[1] is a region of repetitive DNA at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration.

In the 1970s there was no recognition that the telomere-shortening mechanism normally limits cells to a fixed number of divisions, or animal studies suggesting that this is responsible for aging on the cellular level and sets a limit on lifespans.

Russian theorist Alexei Olovnikov was the first to recognize (1971) the problem of how chromosomes could replicate right to the tip, as such was impossible with replication in a 5' to 3' direction. To solve this and to accommodate Leonard Hayflick's idea of limited somatic cell division, Olovnikov suggested that DNA sequences would be lost in every replication phase until they reached a critical level, at which point cell division would stop.

However, Olovnikov's prediction was not widely known except by a handful of researchers studying cellular aging and immortalization. It remained for a privately funded collaboration from biotechnology company Geron to isolate the genes for the RNA and protein component of human telomerase in order to establish the causal role of telomere shortening in cellular aging and telomerase reactivation in cell immortalization.

During cell division, enzymes that duplicate the chromosome and its DNA cannot continue their duplication all the way to the end of the chromosome. If cells divided without telomeres, they would lose the ends of their chromosomes, and the necessary information they contain. (In 1972, James Watson named this phenomenon the "end replication problem".) The telomeres are disposable buffers ‘protecting’ the ends of the chromosomes and are consumed during cell division and replenished by an enzyme, the telomerase reverse transcriptase. They have been likened to the aglets (tips) on the ends of shoelaces that keep them from fraying.

In 1975–1977, Blackburn, working as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University with Joseph Gall, discovered the unusual nature of telomeres, with their simple repeated DNA sequences composing chromosome ends. Their work was published in 1978. The telomere shortening mechanism normally limits cells to a fixed number of divisions, and animal studies suggest that this is responsible for aging on the cellular level and sets a limit on lifespan.

Professor Blackburn won with her long-time US collaborators Jack Szostak, who worked on the telemores unique DNA sequence, and Carol Greider, who co-identified the telomerase. Professor Blackburn is a vocal advocate of independentscientificthought who fell out with the Bush administration over cloning and stem cells. She was dropped from George Bush's Council on Bioethics in 2004 after questioning its bias.

Today, it is established that telomeres protect a cell's chromosomes from fusing with each other or rearranging—abnormalities that can lead to cancer—and so cells are destroyed when their telomeres are consumed. Most cancers are the result of "immortal" cells that have ways of evading this programmed senescence.

Other studies regarding Hypnotic Retrospective Analysis (HRA)[3] suggest that a definite link exists, but nothing to suggest the link is kammic. Numerous observations and studies[4] [3] have shown that a person is regressed back to their childhood, to the time of their birth and far into one’s pastlives linked through that person. The fact that pastlives are linked to the person in the current existence tells us ‘a definite link of some kind’ exists, but what and how it is, is the unknown facts to link it to Buddhistkamma. Rather than address here all the aspects of Kamma in detail, I have only listed the major aspects of kamma in Attachment A. It is for the individual to add or investigate the details at a later time.

HRA is just a term I introduced in my book, Understanding Ourselves Better, Vol.1 Chapter 8 to describe the process of a hypnotist regressing the patient back to their childhood, and beyond one's birth and into their pastlives. Those pastlives are somehow conditionally linked to the hypnotized person in the present. The reason why this can be deduced is that each time the person is regressed more detailed information about that existence arises. What is recorded down during the hypnotic state, the person doesn't know anything about what is spoken. Later on the information is researched and validated (not always). If there was only one life lived to get it right why and where do these previous lives come from? If they randomly occur, it suggests the view (some skeptics believe) of spontaneous existence. However, if that were true the information obtained each time the person is regressed would be different. What actually happens is that the regressed patient provides more details of that previous existence!
Why! A possible conditional link ... Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) is the most, well known for his readings and documentation done. He was an American psychic, also known as the sleeping prophet and father of holisticmedicine. Although he was illiterate and uneducated, he used his psychic ability to help many people and some 30,000 transcripts of his readings were record.

An extrapolation of the above studies shows a definite link whatever that is, does connect that human being in the present from one existence to another. By establishing that there is a definite link means that spontaneous existence as an alternative solution has less validity. ‘Spontaneous existence’ occurs when there is no cause from the past or reason why a living being is born, and so could, for example arise as half human-half animal. However, in mythical stories this does happen [half man-half horse) - not judging here they are true or false - only to illustrate the possibility.

Differences in perception in those who believe in one or many lifetimes[5] should also be considered here. In one view, Society may want human beings to think that there is one lifetime to be lived, to get it right and then end our life maybe pushed because it is convenient to manage, especially in terms of growth, economies of scale and creating a competitive marketplace in all aspects of life. Everyone in this belief system, being economical, religious or community lifestyle competes for their share of happiness whatever that might be across all walks of life.

When a person’s belief system includes many lifetimes, that need to compete is lessened by one’s definition of what one means ‘to become content and happy’ and relates to less chronic stress during one’s life. One difference is when a person who asks two questions in life and answers them is more likely to have a true choice rather than a conditioned one. The two questions are:

Hence, the above observations of many lifetimes imply with Buddhistkamma as its foundation shows that there is a minimum of three ‘causal’ lives for everyone such that spontaneous existence has less appeal (regarding evolution). What are they?

A) MY EXAMINATIONS

No one here needs to be educated in matters of Buddhistkamma and its resultant effect on an individual's life. Please see Attachment A if wish to revise one’s knowledge on the subject of Kamma. I have enclosed recent works from Dr Therese Dale [4] and Helen Blau of StanfordMedicine [5] that gives all the latest findings needed to understand the studies on telomeres and telomerase enzyme.

From this information, I will briefly highlight a summary of telomere’s functionality uncovered so far are listed down here. The discoveries so far are as follows:

Over the period of a person's lifetime the telomere gradually shrinks in time and space as the person grows into a teenager, a young adult, obtains an education, gets a job, marries and has a family; matures into adulthood, ages, grows old and eventually dies.

C) FINDINGS FROM BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH STUDIES

1) The presence of telomeres at the beginning of life, shortens during one's life and eventually disappears towards the end of life suggest that shorter telomeres and fewer telomerase enzymes at the ends of chromosomes for each person approximates the lifespan of that person.

2) As the telomeres become shorter and shorter, preserving the whole chromosome provided at birth is threatened, and possibly could be construed as the onset of any dormant disease that is within the chromosome at question to manifest in that person.

3) In some studies, and in averaging the results over a sample group, overall the people in the study had shown the person’s telomere length increased in size or slowed down the degeneration of the telomeres at the ends of each chromosome. In some studies, the person’s telomere length decreased in size or speeded up the degeneration of the telomeres at the ends of each chromosome.

4) Some observations showed that, in averaging the results over the grouped sample, some information was lost. In these studies, and for some individuals, the telomere length increased in size or slowed down the degeneration of the telomere at the ends of each chromosome. The results show that indeed for some people, the telomeres did increase rather than decrease in that person, and against the normal trend.

Note: Causality has not yet been conclusively proven, as the morality aspect has not been thoroughly tested. However, the indications are good for the future.

7) Other sample studies were on cancercells. The studies found that the telomeres at the end of the cancerous chromosome vigorously multiplied and increased quickly. The observation then created a new study on what causes or triggers the telomeres in the cancercells to increase in size. In that study the telomerase enzyme was discovered that turns telomeres on to increase in the cancercells.

D) EVALUATION OF FINDINGS

Recent evidence suggests that scientists may have found the genetic link with kamma for Buddhistunderstanding. The molecularbiology research work conducted by Professor Elizabeth Blackburn [3] and her team[7] had discovered capsules at the end of chromosomes called telomeres. The research shows that the telomeres gradually shorten over the plantslifetime. Also, when the telomeres were chilled the gradual shortening of the telomeres temporarily stops but when it returns to normal temperatures, the telomeres would start again from where it left off. The discovery implies for Buddhists that an individual’s lifespan is relatively predetermined using these telomeres as a countdown indicator of an organism’s lifespan. Related research work shows how individuallives can influence his or her life by shortening or lengthening one’s predetermined telomere length and that prolonged and undue stress levels are a factor in shortening one’s telomere lifespan. Indirectly, this research discovery implies that doing more good activities for oneself and others has a better impact on one’s stress levels than doing more bad activities, which probably increases one’s stress levels.

Another interesting find of the research work was that the more defects in the telomeres increases the chance of becoming susceptible to disease attacks like cancer. Furthermore and in the normal situation, the research found that an enzymecauses the cellular telomeres to grow rather than gradually degenerate over time and space, which helps to understand why the cancercells are so hard to eradicate at the cellular level.

The extrapolated explanation was that the function of the telomeres at the end of chromosomes is a double-edged sword – A lifespan countdown clock to predetermine when an individual’s life comes to an end, and the ability to influence the shortening or lengthening of that lifespan based upon how that individual chooses to live that life, and a taste of immortality that can kill through bringing the onset of cancerous cell production, sooner.

If immortality were possible, who would want to live a lifetime sentence in prison or as an invalid, handicapped person? This possibility would not give a condemned individual a chance to start afresh with a new existence. An individual who is successful, healthy and wealthy wants to live longer if immortality was discovered natural. The unfortunate prisoner wants to start again afresh and has aversion (dosa vibhavataṇhā) towards his current life regardless of how he lived that life while the successful person wants to extend his life because he does not want it to end if it is at all possible is due to his attachment (nikanti bhavataṇhā) to his current life. Hence, the second and third Noble Truths explains kamma in this way.

5) Shows that some individuals developed quality practices or principles in their life and has been indirectly awarded by lengthening their telomeres or slowing the degeneration process of telomeres at the ends of each chromosome. Probably, having less stress, anxiety, worries or tension in their chosen lifestyle.

b) By been ill tempered & easily upset, provoked, malicious or resentful in ones lifetime, one reaps an ugly disposition, while not being ill tempered & easily upset, etc one is born beautiful (if one is born in the humanstate)

c) By harming other beings with his/her fists, with clods, with sticks, or with knives, one reaps a sickly life, while not harming another one reaps a healthy life (if one is born in the humanstate).

d) By been envious (of others’ good fortune), one reaps a not influential life wherever reborn, while one who is not envious one reaps an influential life (if one is born in the humanstate).

3) When the telomere degeneration process first begins to disappear does the telomere degenerates uniformly or randomly?
Ans: When the telomere disappears, the telomerase enzyme is also few in number and the chromosome end frays, degenerates and cannot fully replicate itself. Both: uniformly over the lifespan, and sometimes without the telomerase enzyme to protect the telomere, chromosome pairs fuse that leads to degeneration.
What do you think according to one’s understanding of dhamma and kamma?

5) Does a diseased chromosome all have in common?
Ans: Yes! Recent studies show that three areas appear to be common – a) chronic stress, b) shortened telomere length, and c) fewer telomerase enzymespresent in the shorter telomere. The three being present reduces the ability for cell replenishment and this can lead to diseases. It is already established that genetic defects leads to disease.
What do you think according to one’s understanding of dhamma and kamma?

6) Does the telomere shortening and ageing occur for everyone?
Ans: Earlier studies averaged the total of telomere lengths in people in a large population hid that information. For some individuals telomeres did not get shorter but even got longer. So, no! However, it is not yet proven to be causal.
Answer relates in future studies on telomere and the telomerase enzyme.
What do you think according to one’s understanding of dhamma and kamma?

7) Does the discovery of telomere functionality suggest the ‘ageless’ antidote for eternal longevity, the elixir for longevity?
Ans: Why some people’s telomeres increase in size against the Norm of them reducing in size, nobody really knows. However, as a possibility and in a material society – morality is first to go, especially in an economic depression, and fewer are practicing it in order to survive the period.
What do you think according to one’s understanding of dhamma and kamma?

Footnotes

↑Alternative definition: A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos (τέλος) 'end' and merοs (μέρος, root: μερ-) 'part.' For vertebrates, the sequence of nucleotides in telomeres is TTAGGG. Most prokaryotes, lacking this linear arrangement, do not have telomeres. Telomeres compensate for incomplete semi-conservative DNA replication at chromosomal ends. A protein complex known as shelterin serves as protection against double-strand break (DSB) repair by homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ).